Wilson v. State
| Citation | 756 P.2d 1240 |
| Decision Date | 27 May 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 519,519 |
| Parties | Robert WILSON, a/k/a Robert Jackson, a/k/a Rick James, a/k/a Robert James, Appellant, v. The STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Appellant, Robert Wilson, a/k/a Robert James Wilson, a/k/a Robert Jackson, a/k/a Rick James, a/k/a Robert James, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree in Comanche County District Court, Case No. CRF-84-128. 21 O.S.1981, § 701.7. The jury found two aggravating circumstances which were: he "knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person", and the probability that in the future he "would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society." 21 O.S.1981, § 701.12(2), (7). He was sentenced to death, and he appeals.
At 2:30 p.m. on March 13, 1984, appellant and Floyd Harris robbed Brittains Catalog Showroom, which is located in a shopping center in Lawton. Appellant was armed with a semi-automatic .25 caliber pistol and Harris had a knife. Wilson and Harris first came to the store at mid-morning; after an hour of browsing, they left about 11:45 a.m. and went to the home of two women friends, Jeanette Garland and Celeste Boynes where they drank a half-pint of liquor and planned the robbery.
When Wilson and Harris returned to the store, they pretended to be shopping, since there were other customers in the store. Sheila Garrett, a clerk, remembering the men from the morning, called downtown to the area manager, Don Thomas, and asked that help be sent out. She wrote down their car tag number; they were driving a pink Lincoln Continental. After half an hour, only one of the customers and her two year old daughter were left in the store. It was then that Wilson, threatening with the pistol, demanded the keys to the jewelry cases; he was quite visibly agitated and warned against tripping any alarms.
Appellant took Patti Bynum, one of the clerks, to the front of the store to unlock the jewelry cases. It was then that Don Thomas was seen coming across the parking lot to the store. When appellant saw Thomas, he shoved Ms. Bynum towards the storeroom. Shortly after she entered the storeroom, she and the others heard two gun shots. Harris told Ms. Bynum to lie on the floor and he taped her up. Wilson then came back and tried to forcibly pull Ms. Bynum to the front; when she resisted, Ms. Garrett volunteered. Ms. Garrett saw Thomas' inert body lying face up covered with blood near the back of the showroom.
Appellant rifled the womens' purses, after filling a pillowcase with the contents of the jewelry cases. Wilson then instructed the hostages to stay put and not make any noise for five minutes. A short time later, two young women shoppers found Thomas' body and called the police.
Around 4:00 p.m. Wilson and Harris showed up again at Jeanette Garland's; she said they had a pillowcase with something in it; they went straight through the house to the bedroom and closed the door. A short time later, Ms. Garland and Boynes went into the bedroom where they saw a lot of new jewelry with sales tags still attached spread out on the bed. Wilson and Harris gave the women some of the jewelry and Wilson told Ms. Boynes he had shot a man once in the stomach and once in the head. Harris confirmed it; and it was then that Harris left in his car.
Wilson put some of his personal belongings and the gun in the trunk of Boynes' car and asked her to drive him to some places in town. One of the stops was at a friend's house by the name of Phyllis Conerly where Wilson showed her some of the jewelry taken in the robbery. Ms. Conerly asked Wilson where he got it and he told her he had been in on a robbery at Brittain's. He gave her some of the jewelry with the tags still attached. Later, in a story he related to Ms. Conerly's husband, he described his part in the robbery and shooting as the part Harris had actually played. After picking Wilson up at the Conerly's, Ms. Garland, her young daughter, and Ms. Boynes drove Wilson to Oklahoma City to evade the Lawton Police. In Oklahoma City, Wilson stopped at a T.G. & Y. store and with Ms. Boynes' help bought a box of bullets. The women then dropped him at a motel in Northeast Oklahoma City.
When the women returned to Lawton, they found several police cars at their house. Ultimately, Ms. Boynes accompanied the police back to Oklahoma City to show them where Wilson was staying. It was about 3:00 a.m. by this time. The Lawton Police, armed with an arrest warrant, asked the Oklahoma City Police for backup. The motel manager gave the police a pass key to Wilson's room and they used the key to enter the room unannounced, where they found appellant asleep on the bed. The arrest was uneventful. Some of the stolen jewelry was still tagged and was lying about in plain view, although the bulk of it was in a bag. The gun was also found in the room in the pocket of Wilson's pants, which were lying on the floor next to the bed.
Although repeatedly advised of his rights, appellant made numerous incriminating statements on the drive to Lawton. Shortly after arrival at the Lawton Police Station, Wilson signed a formal rights waiver; he then gave a formal written statement regarding the robbery and murder. In addition, Wilson claimed he committed 15 or more armed robberies in the Lawton area between January 25 and March 9, 1984.
The trial consisted of the State introducing the evidence of nineteen witnesses which consisted of experts, victims present at the robbery and policemen involved in the arrest. Appellant's attorney did not make an opening statement or put on any evidence in the first stage. It took the jury only eighteen minutes to return their verdict of guilty.
In addition to a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, appellant claims only five errors in regard to the fairness of the guilt phase of the trial. He objects that certain evidence, which was admitted, was unlawfully seized and that certain other evidence which was admitted was not material and was prejudicial.
Appellant emphasizes that even though the Lawton Police had obtained an arrest warrant, that they knew appellant had the stolen goods and the murder weapon on him at the motel in Oklahoma City they still did not get a search warrant. At first glance it would appear the Lawton Police's failure to get a search warrant before they left Lawton is evidence they intended to conduct a warrantless search of the motel. The jurisdictional facts, however, are such that a lawful search warrant, if one proved necessary, could not have been issued in Comanche County since Comanche and Oklahoma counties are not in the same judicial district. See Cunningham v. State, 600 P.2d 337, 339 (Okl.Cr.1979). The Comanche County Magistrate did not have jurisdiction to issue a search warrant to be served in Oklahoma County. We find nothing sinister per se in the failure to get a search warrant prior to serving the arrest warrant. Likewise, we find no error in the trial attorney's failure to object at trial to the introduction of the items seized in the warrantless search. The seizure of the items in question was regular by virtue of the criteria of the "plain view" exception in search warrant requirements. Smith v. State, 698 P.2d 482, 484 (Okl.Cr.1985).
Appellant claims that the box of ammunition found on him when he was apprehended should not have been admitted because it was not relevant to prove any of the elements of the crime. The bullets were purchased several hours after the commission of the offense. Appellant claims it was prejudicial error to expose the jury to this evidence. See 12 O.S.1981, §§ 2104, 2402. Although appellant is correct that this evidence was irrelevant in the guilt stage of the trial, it was harmless error in light of the strong evidence of guilt. See Raymond v. State, 717 P.2d 1147, 1149 (Okl.Cr.1986).
Appellant claims the testimony of Celeste Boynes and Jeanette Garland should have had a cautionary instruction because they were informers. They apparently gained an advantage from the police for their cooperation and testimony. See OUJI-CR 844. Appellant concedes such an instruction was not requested; but he claims the court had a duty to give it sua sponte. Smith v. State, 485 P.2d 771, 773 (Okl.Cr.1971). He also claims that an instruction, although not requested at trial, should have been given establishing Boynes and Garland as accomplices and specifying that their testimony had to be corroborated.
The failure to give a cautionary instruction is more often discretionary than it is fundamental. In this case, the circumstances and the testimony in question were not so extreme that the failure to give a cautionary instruction, resulted in an abuse of judicial discretion as it was in the case cited by appellant. Id. at 773. In Gee v. State, 538 P.2d 1102, 1106 (Okl.Cr.1975), this Court refused to make it mandatory that a cautionary instruction accompany an informant's testimony. We find no fundamental error occurred from the failure of the attorney to request such an instruction nor from the failure of the court to give one, sua sponte. The testimony of these two witnesses was merely cumulative; it would have been superfluous to have given such an instruction.
To label Boynes and Garland as accomplices is tenuous; however, we will assume, arguendo, that they were accomplices even though there is no...
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